water distribution for a garden tower (forum)

MJ starts with ...
Hi everyone

About 2 months ago I built a potato "farm" - layers of potting mix, compost etc in a wire cage. We have been harvesting new potatoes, and trying to leave some to mature to harvest later! I've just been watering from the top and as it has been cool and damp over winter, it seems to be getting enough water. There have also been no weeds (maybe one? tiny) which can only be considered a good thing!

I'm keen to do another one but summer is looming and Perth in summer = hot and dry... So, I want some kind of water distribution system. I've seen this idea: https://www.engineeringforchange.org/news/2012/04/09/how_to_make_a_sack_garden.html, which is used in hot, dry, third world countries.

I've also seen a blog with another version, where the lady used bark chips in the centre for the watering column, instead of the stones. Her idea was that the bark chips, being organic, would just rot down and thus not need to be carefully separated from the growing medium when disassembling the whole thing. It could all be treated the same - dumped back into the compost or spread around the garden as soil conditioner etc.

Any thoughts on using pine bark chips (not pine fines - chunky bits) in the centre column, instead of the stones? I keep reading conflicting things about pine bark.

I can always buy a few bags of bluemetal for the centre, I just liked the idea of not having to sort at the end!

Alternatively, any other good ideas for a watering distribution system?

Thanks
MJ


Time: 11th September 2013 9:23pm

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Jantina says...
Hmmmn, you have me thinking now MJ because we want to grow this seasons potatoes in a wire cage too ( I'm sick of potatoes coming up for years in old beds especially if they had a virus). I'm thinking a coil of that flexible dripper hose Netafin. You block off the end so when it's time to harvest your crop it comes out easily and is ready to go again. Saw Josh Byrne using it in a video.

Time: 12th September 2013 5:52pm

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John Mc says...
I'm also trying a different way of growing spuds this year as well. There's a deep 70lit bonsai bag available which is great for the job. I folded the sides down to start the seed spuds off and them just roll the sides of the grow bag up and fill with coco coir as the potatoes advance. I'm feeding them with a hydroponic solution, so in effect, I'm growing them hydroponically. So far they are doing extremely well.
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Time: 12th September 2013 7:16pm

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MJ says...
Jantina, is it something like this? I can imagine this coiled throughout the layers: http://www.bunnings.com.au/pope-13mm-x-50m-drip-eze-irrigation-drip-
tube_p3120301. A big advantage of this method is that I imagine I could put the cage in the same spot season after season, as long as the compost etc is renewed. Of course, the renewing the compost etc is the down side to that... Not sure how I would keep up with the volume of compost needed.

John Mc, I will be very interested to hear how you go with the bags. I have heard conflicting things about growing potatoes in similar ways. What kind of potato are you using?

Thanks
Miranda

Time: 12th September 2013 8:28pm

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Julie says...
John, you don't let them sprout first? I somehow got the impression this was important. No?

Time: 12th September 2013 8:30pm

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starling says...
MJ,

A more salient design feature would be to have the stone core contained in some sort of mesh bagging (something like cast-net material or old trawler netting would be ideal, even fruit-fly mesh would do it though).

This would not interfere with the dispersal of water and would negate the need to sift through soil to reclaim the stones post-harvest. Moreover, you could just fill this completely, stick in the centre of the bag and fill around it.

I suggest running some sort of tube directly into the centre of the stone bag (it will, in theory, wick upwards and outwards from this point) and have this gravity fed by an elevated receptacle of some kind (molasses drum, anything)with a controlled release system of some kind--you could control the amount of water that is released by simply crimping the tube to a smaller diameter. Just remember that the higher the placement of the reservoir, the more quickly you will go through water. Better still would be to adapt a fitting to a drum of some kind which has a spout with a release control knob--you can pick these up for peanuts from feed suppliers/produce stores. If you had the tube connected to an adapter fitted to the plug, you could literally dial in the amount of water being released.To make the fitting I suggest:

Get some normal garden hose, a couple of inches and make sure this fits over the spout of the drum (hopefully this will be snug, if not you may have to source a bit of thinner diameter hose from bunnings or elsewhere.You could buy a spout and attach one ot any container, but it might be a palaver to fit it.Although if the drum is plastic it should be simple enough to attach with common superglue after drilling out a slot.

Take the tube which will run from the reservoir. Using silicone, fill the open end of the hose about an inch or so deep. Before this sets,poke the tube which will run directly into the bag of stones through the silicone (gently)and taking care to make sure this is airtight, allow it to harden over the tube.

This way you can just set it up and forget about it, really.

Pine bark would not work as a wicking agent and would probably encourage moulds/ fungi growth, I think.

S

Time: 13th September 2013 7:18am

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Jantina says...
MJ your link just came up with "we can't find this page ' so I can't comment. As for finding the compost every year, I'm pretty sure you could grow them in a variety of mixes, lucerne hay and dynamic lifter for instance. We have in the past, grown good spuds just throwing them on the ground and covering them thickly (so no light gets through) with any old hay to hand. Trouble is you have spuds there for ever.
Might have a go with a grow bag as well John and see which works best. I hope everyone posts there results.

Time: 13th September 2013 11:01am

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MJ says...
Jantina, do they not need soil (ie, nutrients etc) to grow? Do they get enough from the original tuber and photosynthesizing what else they need? Or, I guess the dynamic lifter does that.

If I could grow them in hay and dynamic lifter, then put that in the compost, that could then provide future compost. I even have a bag of Lucerne hay left over from our bunny who went to bunny heaven... How much dynamic lifter did you use?

Thanks
MJ

Time: 13th September 2013 11:38am

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John Mc says...
Julie, I planted them with the eyes up, but I don't think it makes any difference. They will throw out roots and sprout anyway. My oldies use to split the eyes of the larger potatoes in half to spread the plants out.
Mine are growing quite well by the pics I took today. I planted four to a bag, might be too many.
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Time: 13th September 2013 6:01pm

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